Is a declining birthrate a blessing or a curse?
Summary
TLDRIn this discussion, Andrea Sankia addresses the global population decline, exploring its implications for economies and the environment. Experts debate whether fewer people could ease planetary pressures, or if the focus should be on more prosperous individuals. They discuss the challenges of declining birth rates in countries like South Korea and Japan, the potential of immigration to balance populations, and the need for new economic models that don't rely on constant growth. Concerns are raised about the future of women's rights and the cultural shifts affecting fertility.
Takeaways
- 🌍 The global population is a complex issue with debates on whether a declining birth rate is positive or negative.
- 📉 Declining fertility rates could lead to economic challenges, such as fewer taxpayers to support an aging population.
- 🌱 Some argue that managing depopulation is an opportunity to reduce strain on the planet's resources.
- 📚 Historically, there was a significant fear of overpopulation leading to catastrophes, as highlighted in Paul Ehrlich's 'The Population Bomb'.
- 🌿 The current human population of 8 billion has contributed to issues like global warming and potential mass extinctions.
- 🔢 Population growth rates began slowing due to factors like the Industrial Revolution, improved healthcare, and women entering the workforce.
- 🇰🇷 South Korea exemplifies the population decline challenge, with the world's lowest fertility rate and attempts to increase it through social policies.
- 🧐 Immigration is suggested as a solution to spread wealth and balance population decline, but it faces political and social resistance.
- 🏠 In Japan, population decline has led to an increase in empty houses termed 'Akia' and school closures.
- 🌱 The discussion emphasizes the need for a mindset shift away from constant growth models in economics and population.
- 🌐 There's a global demographic shift with fertility rates declining even in developing countries, challenging traditional population growth assumptions.
Q & A
What is the current global population concern discussed in the script?
-The script discusses the concern of a declining birth rate and its potential impact on economies and societies, rather than the historical concern of overpopulation.
What was the prediction in the 1960s about population growth?
-In the 1960s, the prediction was that a population explosion would lead to war, famine, and the complete depletion of natural resources, as stated in the book 'The Population Bomb' by Paul Ehrlich.
How has the population growth trend changed recently?
-The trend has shifted from a population explosion to a potential population decline, with fertility rates falling dramatically around the world.
Which country currently has the lowest fertility rate in the world?
-South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world, at 0.68 births per woman and falling.
What is the ideal fertility rate to keep a country's population stable?
-The ideal fertility rate to keep a country's population stable is 2.1 births per woman.
What measures has the South Korean government taken to increase its birth rate?
-The South Korean government has boosted child care services, extended paid paternity leave, and offered financial incentives known as baby vouchers.
What is the term used to describe the management of population decline?
-The term used to describe the management of population decline is 'manage depopulation'.
What are the potential negative consequences of declining population growth?
-Potential negative consequences include fewer taxpayers to support social systems, an aging population, and potential economic challenges.
What is the role of immigration in addressing population decline?
-Immigration can help spread the wealth of richer countries to developing nations and potentially support aging populations in countries with declining birth rates.
What is the stance of the pronatalist movement as discussed in the script?
-The pronatalist movement advocates for taking the issue of population decline seriously and building new economic systems to prevent a societal and economic crisis.
How does the script suggest we should approach the issue of population decline?
-The script suggests that we should shift our mindset from constant growth to sustainable living, improve conditions for the aging population, and consider the quality of life over sheer numbers.
Outlines
🌍 Declining Birth Rates: Global Concerns and Economic Implications
The paragraph introduces the global debate on whether declining birth rates are beneficial or detrimental. It discusses the historical fear of overpopulation leading to catastrophes as predicted in the 1960s by Paul Ehrlich in 'The Population Bomb'. However, the current narrative shifts towards the challenges of depopulation, such as fewer taxpayers to support an aging population. The script points out that despite a growing global population, fertility rates are declining, leading to potential economic and societal shifts. It highlights South Korea's particularly low fertility rate and the government's unsuccessful attempts to increase it, suggesting a broader trend of population decline in East Asia.
📉 Population Decline: A Discussion on Global Demographics
This section features a panel discussion with experts on the implications of population decline. Philip Cohen explains that while population growth was primarily due to decreased mortality rates, the world is now likely to face a population decline later in the century. He suggests that this could be an opportunity to move away from the unsustainable model of constant growth. Malcolm Collins, a pronatalist, expresses concern about the rapid decline in fertility rates, particularly in countries like South Korea, and warns of the economic and societal consequences of ignoring this issue. The conversation touches on the potential for immigration to help redistribute wealth and balance population structures.
🌐 Managing Population Decline: Cultural and Economic Challenges
The discussion continues with panelists debating strategies for managing population decline. Jennifer Schuba emphasizes the need for a mindset shift away from the assumption of constant growth in economics and sociology. She points out that current demographic realities require new thinking. Philip Cohen agrees that population decline has negative economic and cultural consequences, but suggests that focusing solely on growing the population could lead to a loss of individual liberties, especially for women. The conversation also considers the environmental impact of population growth, particularly in developed countries with larger carbon footprints.
👨👩👧👦 The Impact of Population Dynamics on Social Structures
In this segment, the panelists address the social implications of changing population dynamics. They discuss the challenges of providing care for an aging population and the potential collapse of social security systems due to declining birth rates. Malcolm Collins warns of a 'taxpayer collapse' and the need to motivate near stable fertility rates in economically productive environments. Jennifer Schuba counters that focusing on the number of children rather than quality of life can risk individual rights, particularly women's rights. The conversation highlights the tension between the need for economic stability and the protection of individual liberties.
🌱 Cultural Shifts and the Future of Family Norms
The final paragraph of the script summarizes the panel's discussion on cultural shifts and their impact on family norms. Jennifer Schuba argues against focusing solely on the number of children born per woman, suggesting that cultural norms are mutable and that a focus on quality of life could naturally influence fertility rates. She also cautions against assuming cultural stasis, pointing to the global shift towards smaller family norms. The conversation concludes with the recognition that cultural, economic, and individual factors must be considered when discussing population management and the future of society.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Declining Birth Rate
💡Population Collapse
💡Immigration
💡Fertility Rate
💡Depopulation
💡Taxpayers
💡Industrial Revolution
💡Sustainable Population
💡Pronatalist Policies
💡Population Dynamics
💡Economic Prosperity
Highlights
Declining birth rates are causing alarm in wealthy nations.
Global population growth may be ignoring potential solutions through immigration or changing workforce dynamics.
Depopulation presents an opportunity to ease the pressure on the planet.
In the 1960s, the overriding fear was that a population explosion would lead to catastrophe.
Some of the feared consequences of overpopulation have come true, like global warming and mass extinction.
Population growth began to slow with the Industrial Revolution, improvements in agriculture, healthcare, and women joining the workforce.
China introduced its one-child policy, and India instated a controversial sterilization program.
United Nations forecasted a global population increase to 11 billion by the end of the century, but recent studies show a less abrupt increase.
Population decline is already happening in East Asia, especially in South Korea with the lowest fertility rate in the world.
South Korea's government has tried various social policies to increase its birth rate, but the option of immigration has proven unpopular.
Japan is experiencing an extraordinary effect of population decline with nearly 14% of all houses empty.
Demographic decline needs to be faced with immediate discussions on how to proceed.
The best way to manage the planet's population and shifting demographics is a topic of debate.
Pronatalist movement advocates for stable fertility rates in environments where people are economically productive.
Governments trying to promote increasing fertility rates often have negative consequences for human liberty.
The focus should be on improving the quality of life for everyone, which may eventually lead to higher fertility rates.
Cultural shifts have led to a small family norm, indicating that cultures are mutable and can change over time.
The discussion highlights the complexity of managing population growth and the need for a mindset shift towards sustainable solutions.
Transcripts
is a declining birth rate a blessing or
a curse pervasive theories on population
collapse are causing alarm and Wealthy
Nations but if the global population is
growing are we ignoring Solutions
through immigration or changing Dynamics
in our Workforce do we need more people
or fewer more prosperous ones who will
put less pressure on our
planet I'm Andrea sanki and today's
newsmaker is our global population
[Music]
it can be a delicate debate with
religion and culture weighing heavily on
the question of whether having large
families is good or bad for our
societies and for our planet declining
fertility rates pose potential obstacles
for our economies with governments
having fewer tax taxpayers to
accommodate more retired people but it
could be argued that managing
depopulation presents an opportunity to
ease the pressure on our planet with
fewer but more prosperous taxpayers able
to support the elderly while immigration
can help spread the wealth of richer
countries onto the developing world now
remember concerns about where our
population and demographics are going
date back decades in the 1960s the
overriding fear was that a population
explosion would lead to catastrophy in a
seminal book called the population bomb
the demographer Paul elich predicted it
was going to lead to war famine and
complete depletion of natural resources
and it's true that some of that has
happened our current population of 8
billion has caused man-made global
warming leading to a predicted sixth
mass extinction and we are struggling to
try to bring the planet back into
balance well over the last 300 years the
population has indeed exploded in the
year 1700 there were just 610 million
people but once the Industrial
Revolution took hold combined with
improvements in agriculture health care
and women joining the workforce the rate
of growth began to slow until recently
that didn't mean that the population
explosion wasn't still taking place
people were having slightly fewer
children but there were by now so many
people that the overall population was
heading to totally unsustainable numbers
and fears over that explosion LED some
countries to take drastic measures China
introduced its Infamous one child policy
and India instated a highly
controversial sterilization program just
three years ago the United Nations
forecast the global population would
increase to 11 billion by the end of the
century but since then some Studies have
shown that Peak population is expected
to be less and the decline in fertility
rates even more abrupt leading the
global population to decline either
before or around the turnament the
century and in quite a few countries
that population decline is already
happening especially in East Asia
nowhere is it more evident than in one
of the world's wealthiest countries
South Korea it now has the lowest
fertility rate in the world at 68 births
per woman and falling the rate needs to
be 2.1 births per woman to keep a
country's population stable the
government has tried and failed via
various social policies to increase its
birth rate but the option of immigration
has has proven
unpopular now if current trends continue
the country's population is set to fall
from its current 51 million to 36
Million by the year 2072 a drop of 30%
in just 50 years the South Korean
government has boosted child care
services extended paid paternity leave
and even offered Financial incentives
known as baby vouchers in 2022 president
Yun admitted the government had spent
more than $200 billion to increase the
birth rate yet it's still in
Decline while Italy has a similar
problem with fertility rates starting to
decline in the 1980s the country's
right-wing prime minister Georgia Malone
is so concerned she's created a Ministry
of family and birth the government's cut
VAT on baby products and increased
family allowances but as with South
Korea Financial incentives seem to have
little effect and then there's Japan
it's one of the first countries in the
world to experience population decline
line and its effect there has been
extraordinary nearly 14% of all houses
in Japan are empty they even have a name
Akia and there are 9 million of them
slowly decaying mostly around the
countryside it's also led to the closure
of nearly 9,000 schools in the last 20
years I think we need to face up to the
reality of demographic Decline and start
debating as soon as possible how we want
to proceed closing a school is a very
difficult issue it said that it takes 10
years from the start of discussions to
the closure if we want to take action in
the next 10 years we need to start
discussing it
immediately so what is the best way to
manage our planet's population and
shifting demographics well joining me
now to debate that and more are from
Valley Forge Pennsylvania founder of
pronatalist dorg Malcolm Collins
Jennifer schuba is the president of the
population reference Bureau
and from College Park Maryland sociology
professor and demographer at the
University of Maryland Philip Cohen
thanks all so much for being with me uh
Philip I'll start with you first of all
explain how we have a population that is
set to hit 10 billion by around
2058 yet we're talking about population
collapse well uh I'm not talking about
population collapse because I think
that's sort of alarmist and unnecessary
but we are probably headed toward
towards population decline uh later in
this Century um the population increased
in the world mostly because mortality
decreased you know people people started
surviving childhood more and uh as a
result of we had larger Generations uh
and still having having births at higher
rates so that gave us a huge population
boom uh uh mostly in the last century
and and you know as we've reached to
eight eight billion people it it might
appear that we're headed towards um you
know exponential growth and eventually
becoming you know just a the planet
becoming a ball of flesh but um actually
um uh uh the birth rates are are falling
dramatically around the world um and by
by the end of this Century we will have
pass that point uh of growth and start
um and start a period of decline unless
something um dramatic changes now that's
pretty pretty well baked in because of
the declining birth rates we've already
had but is that a good thing
well um if we can get ourselves out of a
a constant growth mindset you know the
idea that we can that we should always
that the population and the economy
always must be growing forever um you
know if you stop and think about it
there's no way that can ultimately be
sustainable so we're going to have to
figure out how to work with declining
population eventually um and we'll have
some time you know as as the birth rates
fall um we may over the course of the
next few hundred years um lose a few
billion people and be back to where we
were you know in in in the last century
which was fine having six billion people
was perfectly reasonable for for the
Earth so we can work it out but we will
have to do some um some careful
management and some redistribution of
resources uh to to make that work right
so manage depopulation is the is the
term I've heard because say this
exponential growth that we've been
witnessing over the last couple
centuries was never sustainable but
Malcolm why do you think we're in
trouble I mean you are technically what
one of those alarmists that maybe Philip
was alluding to go ahead yes and I heard
you know when I started caring about
this issue I heard a lot of people
saying you know you you shouldn't be so
alarmist about this you know the
developing world is always going to be
uh you know heavy in population and yet
we've seen you know you can look this
recent piece in America's quarterly uh
Latin America's fertility decline is
accelerating and no one knows why and
demographers in the region are beginning
to use terms like vertiginous to
describe the rate of population or
fertility crash that we're seeing in
Latin America when I started caring
about this I was in Korea and everyone
was saying oh don't worry about it it
won't get that bad you know it'll level
off somewhere um and now in Korea at
their current fertility rate not not
where it's projected current for every
hundred Koreans there's only going to be
Sixth great-grandchildren and and that
is alarm like like insanely optimistic
because um their fertility rate is
continuing to decline 11.5%
year-over-year just this last year and
even if they somehow got their
population fertility rate back up it
really wouldn't make a difference
because 60% of their population is over
the age of 40 right now I feel like
coming back to the US and and talking
about these issues or coming to Europe
and talking about these issues I got a
chance to go back in time 20 years and
warn people that there does not appear
to be a floor on this and right now in
the world generally speaking the only
countries that are above repopulation
rate are countries where the average
person is earning less than 5,000 USD
per year now it should be our goal to
raise these countries out of poverty yet
we are raising them out of poverty with
an economic system that is built on the
Assumption of constant growth which was
because the number of consumers and
producers was growing exponentially so
what we advocate for is to take this
issue seriously and build new economic
systems to to uh uh head off this train
wreck okay I mean I I'm not so sure when
you talk about the the growing
populations in developing countries um
what about bringing some of those
populations opening up a little more
immigration and you could argue that
could be a win-win because not only do
we grow in a country like the United
States where you are we don't only grow
our population the way you think is
necessary but we also can allow people
from developing countries to earn the
wages in wealthy countries that will be
brought back to the developing world so
that everyone can effectively Prosper it
could be a
win-win that would work if we were at
the population scenario we were 10 years
ago but as I mentioned Latin America
fell below repopulation rate all the way
back in
2019 they are dealing there was this
great article on The Economist recently
they are dealing with hugely stretched
social security systems because of their
aging populations we are just exporting
our own laziness to developing countries
that are less able to deal with the fact
that they are putting taxes and State
dollars into training people during
nonproductive childhood years then we
get their productive labor as adults and
now they have to deal with an even older
population because we've been draining
their countries but you could say okay
okay okay we'll only take immigrants
from countries that are still above
repopulation rate but because those
countries are predominantly under 5,000
USD per year now you've created an
economic incentive for Europe and the
United States to prevent those countries
from ever escaping poverty I told a
reporter this and they're like do you
really think the United States would de
would sabotage the developing countries
economies just for the sake of our own
and I was like yes of course they would
they that's like rmo
like let let me ask Jennifer then about
this and Jennifer if you can comment as
well on the analysis that says we are
only as a global Society I'm not just
going to say about the us we are only
thinking about the survival of our own
economies and our species as well at the
expense of the planet and other species
some of which we've run into
Extinction yeah I think this quote that
talking about really is about a mindset
shift H which Philip alluded to as well
actually all of us have I think are are
are pushing this forward that we have to
have a general mindset shift because if
you really think about it every Theory
we had about economics politics in
sociology that those theories were
developed under conditions where it
looked like there would be exponential
growth and where the values were around
exponential growth and so we have a lot
of thinking to do to catch up with the
way that the demographic reality has
changed and I think for a lot of people
the idea that we have shifted from um
this overpopulation rhetoric to one of
population decline that's new I still
talk to people who think uh you know
when I released a book about eight
billion people they said wow that's so
many I can't imagine how many more there
will be I'm like well we actually kind
of know how many more there will be but
our thinking hasn't quite caught up so
you know we talk about immigration some
of that rhetoric is also caught in the
past where we think about a world where
people are really on the move and
there's just um lots of people always
flowing over borders and of course the
media can can make it seem that way but
demog demographics around the world are
shifting and our migration patterns will
probably shift along with them bringing
a new set of issues so we need lots of
new thinking about this let me ask
philli though I mean okay let's be
honest because you said this you know we
we can't turn into a giant ball of human
flesh on this planet so fewer people at
the this point are technically better
you know for the planet humans have
caused as I said the extinctions of so
many plants and species already and a
six mass extinction is actually in the
cards right now so do we have the right
to insist that we need to keep growing
and we actually have an obligation to
keep doing so the the way Malcolm thinks
we
do um no and the issue is um uh growth
as a process has a lot of positive
consequences um it stimulates creativity
and uh sort of dynamism um and it and it
has some economic effects that we like
unfortunately the larger population that
growth produces causes a lot of problems
so we like the dynamic of growth but the
outcome of growth is not is is
unmanageable in the long run um and on
the the flip side of that is the dynamic
of population Decline and I I won't talk
about collapse or depopulation because
that's not what we're talking about but
the if we eventually which we probably
will get to a declining number of people
that process of decline produces a
dynamic that is that we're not really um
uh that we're not really equipped to
handle at the moment so it will it you
know it it has sort of negative Economic
Consequences um and cultural
consequences that we don't like you know
and and if you look at Korea it's a good
examp the most extreme example on Earth
um but but but a sharply declining
population has negative con consequences
so um we're going to have to deal with
that as a as a as a coming reality but
the idea that we can that we can always
grow ourselves out of any problem we
have is certainly
shortsighted okay Malcolm I could see
you itching to get in there go
ahead yeah I I want to be clear that the
pronatalist movement is not about
preventing population decline that is
impossible at this point if we are on
the Titanic we are hitting the iceberg
every time now we are just trying to
alert people to the sever of the
situation and trying to get as many
people on lifeboats as orderly as
possible uh you know we can say oh this
isn't a crisis but then we're also like
but you know our entire civilizational
structure is set up on the Assumption of
population growth like the global
economy is and we really don't have a
plan or a way to handle it when things
start shrinking on average and it's
better that we get out in front of this
issue uh especially because this doesn't
happen either would it be better to make
that plan instead of just growing the
population as per the older
models well the the best thing we can do
in a plan is to find a way to motivate
uh at least near stable fertility rates
in environments where people have
freedom and are economically productive
because if we don't do that then the
only cultural groups that survive are
going to be those groups that restrict
people's freedoms every let me ask let
me ask you this though because you're
speaking from the from the perspective
of an of a US citizen and in the US
we've seen an constantly increasing
number of a children in state care which
is also I've heard very set to grow
because of the limitations now on on
Reproductive Rights in many Southern
States so you'll have half a million PE
kids in the US in state care right now
you also have a decreasing often
decreasing job market with you know
medium skills job market that's being
automated uh and that there aren't as
many medium wage jobs aail able now
because technology is taking over plus
you have a serious homeless problem in
the United States and it's it it comes
out of you know you may think you have a
very strong family structure in the
family that you've created but many
people do not and people fall in the
cracks and then we have another massive
social issue on our hands with a growing
population of people that can't
contribute to society the way you want
them
to yeah so you just named a number of
tax holes right um and we're going to
increasingly have less taxes come in as
the population declines at an age where
we have even more people living off of
systems like Social Security and
eventually those systems are just going
to go bust you know this isn't a problem
about like wealthy people not having as
much money as they used to have it's a
problem of a lot of old people not
getting the care they need and dying
slow avoidable deaths okay but let me
ask Jennifer can they get that care they
need if you know this growing youthful
population
isn't as prosperous as it once was right
I think this that that question sets us
up to say we can't breed our way out of
this which I I think putting that
forward as the solution is a huge
mistake because what it does is it just
says well we don't need to try to change
anything we don't need to adapt all we
need to do is try to make more babies
and the demographic reality is that even
if these birth rates go up now we have
decades ahead of Aging populations and
so our focus in this conversation has
been on depopulation thinking about
overall population shrinking but along
with that first first comes population
aging which is inevitable and that's
that is the reality I will deal with for
the rest of my life my children will
deal with for the rest of their lives
and so just to put the focus on the
absolute number of people and to put the
focus on creating more babies completely
ignores that these larger systems you
know in a lot of f low fertility
countries youth unemployment is a huge
issue and so that's part of the reason
why people don't really want families or
if they want to start them feel like
they can't do it and so we need to start
shifting away from thinking about
absolute numbers and I really think that
if we focus on helping people have
better quality lives the eventual
byproduct of that may be higher
fertility but you end up with a huge
backlash when you focus on those numbers
um we keep thinking about Korea we've
talked about Korea a couple of times
there's a huge feminist backlash there
to really trying to raise fertility
rates from a government level that's
because not everyone wants the
bureaucrats in the bedroom right and
there is a huge worry that individual
rights will end up being restricted in
the name of overall growth so by putting
all of our focus and attention on those
numbers I think we take away the
individual experience the family
experience and the community experience
and that's where our real solutions lie
yeah Philip and there go ahead go ahead
yeah um uh it's really important to
understand that you know people don't
have children for the social good you
know that that that's not that that's
not that's not how individual decision
making works and there really is no
experience yet in the world of a
government promoting uh increasing
fertility rates without producing um
drastic negative consequences in terms
of uh human Liberty uh especially for
women I mean well there there's no
experience really of of producing Rising
fertility rates yet it's not a problem
that we've had um but but when
governments try to intervene um on on
the population um behavior in terms of
more children or less children um uh the
consequences are often drastic U for or
for Human Rights and Freedom so I think
Jennifer is exactly right that if we can
improve um the conditions of living um
then um some people may decide to have
more children I mean we're in a little
bit of a bind because the decline in
fertility has been really really good
and produced great consequences
especially for women uh and for and for
gender equality um and a lot of things
you do that may promote um people having
more children also um have the
consequence of increasing opportunities
and give people more choices of things
to do other than have children um so I I
don't think you can you know you we
haven't figured out a way to ride that
line where we're we're you know we're
providing child care for people which oh
we think that's going to make them have
more children well actually it also
makes them makes their careers more
viable and they may decide to have fewer
children um trying to manage that is is
not really feasible at least in terms of
any anything that anybody has discovered
so far but we do know how to make life
better especially as Jennifer says for
the Aging population um because um
that's coming no matter what uh and we
can do things to uh improve their health
and well-being improve their productive
uh years um some people people are happy
to work longer into older age um with um
with uh dignity and and good jobs uh and
some people want to have retirement um
but but we can we can do we can do
better in Old in older ages for and
Philip quickly um I I also wanted to
look at at this angle that you know this
this argument you've heard people make
that it's you know developing countries
that don't have the resources to support
a growing population are the ones having
more children but then we have the issue
of children in developing countries
developed countries excuse me also
leaving the biggest carbon footprint you
know one child in a developed country
leaves the same I think as about nine or
10 in a developing country and then it
harms those developing countries and and
prevents also their kind of their
economic growth prospects as well
because they're dealing with massive
climate change issues so
disproportionately how can we also kind
of factor that in uh when we look at the
global population Dynamics and who
should be looking at growth on a fair
scale well growing population right at
the World level growing population
creates environmental problems um on the
other hand like you you mentioned
earlier um uh migration uh immigration
to wealthier societies um uh uh produces
very important positive effects both for
the receiving and for the sending uh
societies uh and again is a question of
human Freedom if people want to move to
places with stronger iies and more
opportunities that's something they
should be able to do as human beings and
that has positive consequences but we
have to manage that and it becomes a
political problem at that point yeah
Malcolm yeah uh well one thing I really
want to note here which is something
that you've highlighted is not everyone
is like you can have more kids and if
you just have a ton more kids who are on
welfare or something like that you
haven't really made the problem any
better what we're really dealing with
globally isn't so much a population
collapse but a taxpayer collapse um and
the two core things that affect
fertility rate the most are one a
person's economic productivity the more
economically productive a country is or
an individual is the less likely they
are to have kids and those are the kids
that are more likely to be economically
productive themselves which is going to
compound this problem the second is the
person's cultural group the secondary
problem we has here is intra
generationally um uh you know declining
for IL has been great for women's rights
intergenerationally it's going to be
terrible for women's rights and that is
because if it turns out that every
cultural group that accepted women's
rights uh Falls way below fertility rate
and it makes up a smaller portion of the
global population in the future and all
the groups that started restricting
those rights end up becoming bigger and
bigger in their cultural footprint then
in the future of humanity women will
have far less rights and we're already
seeing this in places like China where
they're restricting access to for
fertility control and birth control we
are Marching head first into a future of
a handmaid's tail I I I need to get a
woman's perspective on that then
Jennifer well I you know I think there
could
potentially be an issue with with um
this line of reasoning because we assume
that a cultures don't change and we
assume that just because we have a child
within a culture they stay within that
culture and that's absolutely not the
case and we've seen tons of cultural
shifts in fact how did we get here to
having this convers ation today a
massive planetary cultural shift towards
a small family Norm so I think we need
to allow for the fact that cultures are
mutable I think also it is the very
focus on absolute numbers and on births
and average number of children born per
woman listen carefully to those words
that puts those rights at risk if we do
start to shift to thinking about um why
are people having uh different family
formation patterns today than they had
in the past and we kind of take it away
from just the focus on women then I
think we bring ourselves back to that
point I made about quality of life for
everyone okay me in a country like China
when we try to restrict rights around
women you see these backlashes Jennifer
Shuba that will have to be the final
word so unfortunately we're out of time
uh for this edition of the newsmakers
I'd like to thank all three of my
panelists so much for being with us
fascinating discussion our viewers of
course were joining us as well remember
you can follow us on X and do be sure to
subscribe to our YouTube channel I'm
Andrea thank you we'll see you next time
[Music]
Ver Más Videos Relacionados
World population: Too many people or too few?
It's Not Just You: No One Wants Kids Anymore | Asmongold Reacts
What Happens When Demographics Change Forever?
How do American universities make their money? | Counting the Cost
Singapore’s total fertility rate falls to historic low in 2023
The Demographic Transition Model [AP Human Geography Review Unit 2 Topic 5]
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)